Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for this report:-

Saturday 20 September 2025, 3:00pm
Premier League
Brighton and Hove Albion (2) 2 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 2

Brighton scorers:-
Minteh, 8
Ayari, 31

Spurs scorers:-
Richarlison, 43 van Hecke, 82 (o.g.)

Brighton & Hove Albion (4-2-3-1): Fabian Hurzeler
1 B Verbruggen; 34 J Veltman, 6 J van Hecke, 5 L Dunk (c), 24 F Kadioglu (27 M Wieffer 85); 17 C Baleba (25 D Gomez 45), 26 Y Ayari; 11 Y Minteh (42 D Coppola 75), 8 B Gruda (20 J Milner 63), 22 K Mitoma; 10 G Rutter (18 D Welbeck 75)

Subs not used: 23 J Steele (gk), 21 O Boscagli, 9 S Tzimas, 14 T Watson

Booked: D Gomez (73 foul on Bergvall)

Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3):
1 G Vicario; 23 Pedro Porro (24 D Spence 89), 17 C Romero (c), 37 M van de Ven, 13 D Udogie; 30 R Bentancur (7 X Simons 61), 6 J Palhinha, 15 L Bergvall (14 A Gray 89); 20 M Kudus, 9 Richarlison, 28 W Odobert (22 B Johnson 72).

Subs not used: 31 A. Kinsky (gk), 4 K Danso, 29 P Sarr, 11 M Tel, 44 D Scarlett

Booked: Kudus (46 foul on Gomez), Romero (88 foul on Mitoma)

American Express Stadium, Attendance: 31,488

Referee:- Chris Kavanagh Assistants:- Dan Cook, Ian Hussin Fourth Official:- Tom Nield VAR:- Neil Davies Assistant VAR:- Robert Jones

Spurs overturn two-goal deficit to gain a well-earned point.

Thanks to Eugene Gasper for the picture.

An entertaining match at the American Express Stadium saw Brighton take a 2-0 lead after half an hour. Importantly for Spurs they reduced the deficit to one before the interval. The equalising goal came in the last ten minutes when Brighton under pressure conceded an own goal. Spurs showed character and determination in recovering from two goals behind. The last time that Spurs recovered from a 2-0 deficit in an away Premier League game to take any points was on Boxing Day in December 2022 away to Brentford when they came back to draw 2-2 (ironically against Thomas Frank). Since then there have been fifteen occasions when they were two down and lost all of these games. Two occurred under Conte, three in the post Conte interim period and ten matches under Postecoglou.

There were three changes from the Spurs team which beat Villareal on Wednesday night in the Champions league with Destiny Udogie, Joao Palhinha and Wilson Odobert replacing Djed Spence, Pape Sarr and Xavi Simons. Udogie and Odobert were making their first starts of the season. It had been expected that Randal Kolo-Muani would play a part in this game but he was absent due to a dead leg. So Dane Scarlett was among the substitutes for a Premier League game for the first time this season.

Brighton made four changes after losing lost 2-1 to Bournemouth last weekend. Maxim De Cuyper and Jack Hinshelwood were injured and replaced by Ferdi Kadioglu and Yasin Ayari. Carlos Baleba and Brajan Gruda came in for James Milner and Danny Welbeck. Hinshelwood was responsible for three goals that Brighton scored against Spurs during the last two seasons and so was a significant absentee.

Spurs applied some early pressure. They won an early corner. As the corner was being taken Bergvall cheekily left the pitch at the right post and ran behind the Brighton goal returning on the left side to try and gain an advantage. Referee Chris Kavanagh immediately stopped the game and warned him not do it again.

Udogie then got into the Brighton box but his effort came to nothing.

Against the run of play Brighton scored from a turn-over. Rutter in his own half passed the ball to Minteh who was just across the half-way line level with Romero. He broke down the right wing pursued by Romero. He ran into the box, rounded Vicario and scored into the empty net. It was a fine individual goal. Semi-automated VAR indicated that he was just on-side by millimetres, truly a goal of fine margins.

Bergvall was very prominent for Spurs making himself available in various positions and trying to create chances.

Both sides created opportunities during the next twenty minutes. Odobert sent a couple of crosses into the box and had a shot that went wide. Porro had a cross blocked and from his own half set up Richarlison whose shot hit the side netting.

Udogie stopped a run by Minteh. A long range shot by Ayari hit Vicario and rebounded. An effort by Gruda went over the bar.

Spurs had possession of the ball just outside their box on the right. Bergvall attempted to move the ball further up the pitch but his pass was intercepted by Ayari. He hit a powerful shot from outside the box towards the top right corner of the goal. Vicario did manage to touch the ball but couldn't keep it out. He should have done better.

With two minutes of normal time remaining before the interval Richarlison scored with a shot after some good work by Kudus. It was a timely effort as Spurs went in at the interval just a goal down - a smaller mountain to climb.

The only change for the second half saw Diego Gomez replace Carlos Baleba, the second time this season that Fabian Hurzeler has replaced him at this point. Within a minute Kudus received a yellow card for a foul on Gomez.

The early pattern of the second half saw Spurs applying pressure while Brighton withdrew most of their players to their own half to soak up the pressure.

A Spurs free kick caught Verbruggen off his line but van Hecke rescued the situation by conceding a corner. Odobert crossed the ball for Bergvall in the box but Dunk intercepted.

Ten minutes into the half Brighton were awarded a free-kick on the half way line. Dunk noticed that Vicario was quite far out of his goal. He launched a high ball towards the Spurs goal. Vicario went scurrying back and fortunately the ball landed on the top of the net. If the effort had been on target, it could have been a close-run thing.

Frank made the first change after an hour with Simons replacing Bentancur.

Soon afterward James Milner came on for Brighton. This is his 24th season in the Premier League and it was his 642th appearance. He needs twelve more appearances to overtake Gareth Barry as the player who has played in the most Premier League matches. He is 39 years old and seven years older than his manager Fabian Hurzeler. Fifteen players in the Brighton squad hadn't been born when he made his Premier League debut.

Simons was getting into the game. A ball broke to him on the edge of the box but his effort was wide. Kudus created a chance for him from the right but he shot wide of the far post when it would have been easier to score.

Brighton had a few chances. A long-range effort from Gomez was wide. A dangerous situation arose when Mitoma ran into the box but Romero dispossessed him with a great challenge. Mitoma also set up Kadioglu but his shot was off target.

Richarlison had a shot saved by Verbruggen. Kudus then crossed from the right and van Hecke under pressure from Palhinha headed the ball into his own net. Given the amount of pressure Spurs had applied in the second half it was a deserved goal.

By now rain was falling heavily.

Brighton had more possession in the final minutes but couldn't come close to a winning goal.

Spurs showed character today after going two goals down and were worthy of a share of the points. Overall Spurs were slightly the better team but Brighton threatened on a number of occasions when they counter-attacked. Bergvall was the best Spurs player covering lots of ground, making good passes and making himself available to receive the ball. Udogie on his first start of the season was prominent in both defending and attacking situations. Kudus and Romero also played well.

The last two seasons saw Brighton gain ascendancy over Spurs. Two seasons ago at the Amex Spurs were 4-0 down before coming back to 4-2. Last season Spurs were 2-0 up the interval before being totally outplayed in the second half and losing 2-3. The last game of last season saw a horrible 4-1 defeat at home for Spurs. In coming back today from 2-0 down Spurs served notice that they will no longer be easy opponents for Brighton.

The Spurs starting XI today contained no British players. Two seasons ago Spurs fielded a team with no English players on occasion but it did have a Welsh component in Johnson or Davies. This is the first occasion I'm aware of where there were no British players.

The team is still a work in progress. Notwithstanding today's two goals, the team is generally defensively solid. The attacking players need time to gel. Kudus did a have pre-season but Simons and Kolo-Muani joined since the start of the season. Kulusevski, Solanke and Maddison are yet to play a competitive game between them. Given time to integrate the different options Spurs should become a productive attacking team.

There are grounds for optimism. Spurs sit second in the table tonight but may drop a couple of positions lower depending on the outcome of Sunday's matches. Ten points from five games represents a satisfactory start to the Premier League campaign.

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